‘Welcome competition in satcom, including Starlink’: Reliance Industries rebuts Musk's claims

NEW DELHI: Ahead of its upcoming mega Rs 30,213-crore Jio IPO, Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries has rebutted Elon Musk’s tirade on X. Last Wednesday, Musk had accused “certain oligarchs” of “blocking” Starlink’s entry to India without naming anyone but saying “you can guess who they are” and then named Ambani over the next two days in a series of X posts.On Friday, Reliance Industries said in a statement statement: “We welcome competition in satellite communications, including Starlink. Every player, Jio included, must serve the people of India and abide by the laws and policies of the land.”“At Reliance, we have never feared competition. We see it as the truest test of who serves the customer best. Jio itself entered India's crowded telecom market in 2016 as the newest player, with not a single customer. In just 10 years, Jio has earned the trust of over 53 crore customers and given Indians some of the best digital infrastructure and most affordable data in the world,” the statement said.Govt had also denied Musk’s charges. Last Thursday, Union telecom minister Jyotiraditya Scindia had said at the India Mobile Congress: “There is a lot of conversation about a particular party (Starlink). But there are three parties that have got licenses… As and when govt decides the charge system on revenue basis spectrum will be assigned to them and as and when they individually fulfil security conditions, then they can start operations.”Sunil Bharti-backed Eutelsat OneWeb, Ambani’s Reliance Jio and Musk’s Starlink have got licences and are preparing to start satcom service here so that even remote areas where laying ground infra for broadband is not possible can get the same. Billionaire Jeff Bezos-led Amazon's Project Kuiper is eying a licence to do so.The Reliance statement issued Friday said: “Like every Indian enterprise, Reliance has grown in an India that welcomes investment and innovation, homegrown or international, that improve the lives of the people. That openness rests on the rule of law. As govt of India has stated, it applies the same process to every applicant, Indian or foreign. Jio's own satellite services await clearances.”You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.